1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a magnetic recording reproducing apparatus for magnetic cards and magnetic recording tapes, and more particularly to a magnetic recording reproducing apparatus which can repeatedly reproduce the contents, informations or data recorded on an endless recording medium.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A magnetic card generally comprises a card substrate made of paper or plastic and a magnetic layer formed over the entire of one surface of the substrate or a magnetic stripe formed over a portion of one surface of the substrate. In the magnetic layer or stripe, voice or digital informations can be recorded. A conventional reproducing system for such magnetic cards comprises a card transporting capstan roll and a reproducing head spring-biased opposite to the roll. The transporting capstan roll is driven at a constant speed by a motor. A magnetic card is inserted into between the transporting capstan roll and the reproducing head so that the magnetic layer or stripe of the card may contact the reproducing head, and then the magnetic card can be transported by the roll, whereby the reproduction from the card can be performed. In the case of using such a magnetic card for language learning, a student inserts the magnetic card into the reproducing system, looking at the characters, explanatory notes or pictures printed on the card and hears the sound reproduced from the magnetic layer or stripe of the card. Thus, he can learn a language simultaneously hearing and seeing.
Although magnetic cards cannot be used for a long sound recording and reproducing, they have the advantages that they can be accessed at random, that they can have characters, pictures or explanatory notes printed thereon, and that they can be repeatedly reproduced any times. For this reason, the magnetic cards are specifically suitable for use in learning foreign languages, practicing the pronunciation of words or conversation. The conventional reproducing system as described above has the disadvantages that it is inconvenient for looking at the informations printed on the card because the card is being moved during reproduction, that the card must be inserted into the system each times for repeated reproduction and that the card tends to be damaged because of the repetition of insertion. To eliminate the above disadvantages, a magnetic recording reproducing apparatus has been proposed by the inventor of this invention and disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 3778/1977 (Japanese Utility Model Application Public Disclosure No. 100214/1978) and Japanese Utility Model Application No. 170883/1976 (Japanese Utility Model Application Public Disclosure No. 88117/1978) wherein the contents, informations or data recorded in a magnetic card are transferred by magnetic contact printing onto an endless recording medium and then the transferred informations are continuously and repeatedly reproduced from the endless recording medium. Such an apparatus employs the recording and reproducing system of a cassette-type tape recorder to transfer the sound recorded in a magnetic card to an endless recording tape in the form of one loop and then repeatedly reproduce the transferred sound from the recording tape. This system has the advantages that the contents recorded in a magnetic card can be continuously repeatedly reproduced only by inserting the card into the system once, keeping the card at hand, and that a cassette-type tape can be inserted into the system in place of the one-loop-type tape for reproduction of informations much longer than those in the one-loop type tape. However, this system has the disadvantages that it is comparatively expensive because of utilization of cassette-type tape recording and reproducing system, that the starting operation for the system is cumbersome since a play starting button must be depressed to start the system after a cassette housing a recording tape is set to the system, and that the repeated reproduction from a cassette-type tape requires rewinding of the tape.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a simple and inexpensive magnetic recording reproducing apparatus which can continuously repeatedly reproduce the contents recorded in a magnetic card by only inserting the card into the apparatus once and can reproduce the contents recorded in the card only one time if desired.